“I am so happy for the ladies,” UNT coach Sujay Lama said.
“This was a hard-earned victory over a quality opponent. We had Arizona on
their heels all day long, but they just kept fighting, coming back hard. Our
kids are fit and they know how to battle. That combination paid off for us.”

North Texas won the doubles point after dropping the point
in its two previous matches.

Kseniya Bardabush and Franziska Sprinkmeyer clinched the
doubles point for North Texas, defeating Kim Stubbe and Inge Hendrikx 8-6.

“Winning the doubles point was big, but more importantly
it’s good to get back our confidence,” Lama said. “We still have room to
improve on our execution, but the good thing is we know we are capable of
playing aggressive doubles.”

Although Bardabush dropped her singles match against Lacey
Smyth, Sprinkmeyer rolled past Austin 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 5 spot to make it 2-1
UNT.

Arizona (6-5) took the next two singles points to tie the
match at 3. The match came down to UNT’s Agustina Valenzuela against Susan
McRann in No. 6 singles.

Valenzuela defeated McRann in dramatic three-set fashion.
Valenzuela took the first set 6-4, dropped the second set 5-7 then battled back
to win the third set 7-5 and clinch the match for North Texas.

“I cannot say enough about Agustina’s effort to clinch the
match for us,” Lama said. “To see a freshman have that poise in a deciding
match was amazing. She has been doing extra work on her own every day, and that
gave her the confidence to execute under pressure. This was definitely a
breakthrough match for her.”

No. 57 North Texas (6-1) returns to action at 2 p.m.
Wednesday when it plays host to No. 28 TCU.

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